Unlimited Fox Works
by Bocchi
Summary: In which Shirou Emiya replaces a certain fox.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: In which Emiya Shirou replaces a certain fox.

AN: This idea kinda got stuck in my head and wouldn't leave. Not really sure if I'm going to continue this, but oh well.

–Ω–

A five-year-old blonde boy sat on his bed, softly sobbing. He had had an especially bad day. His usual bad days consisted of being glared at and called names, but that happened so often it might as well have been a normal day for him. It had turned into an especially bad day when he had tried buying dango with the money the Old Man Hokage gave him. Before he could even say a word to the vendor, the man had yelled at him and started kicking him away from the store. He didn't know what he did wrong. He had done what all the other kids were doing. Perhaps there was something wrong with him? Was he that different? Is that why he was so hated? He wished he had someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't glare and call him names Maybe then he could have some answers.

His thoughts were interrupted when a flash of light brightened his darkened room. As his eyes adjusted he spied a tall silhouette of a man approaching him. Eyes red as spilt blood were focused on him. His senses screamed danger, but his body wouldn't respond. The man had closed the distanced and was already reaching out to him. He screwed his eyes shut. What was this man going to do to him? Was he going to get beat? He stiffened as two fingers pressed upon his forehead.

 _Peace, little one,_ said a voice. He was confused; the voice hadn't come from in front of him, but it had seemed to come from inside his head. The voice then continued, ignoring his confusion.

 _You won't be alone much longer, for one who saves will come._

The pressure on his forehead disappeared, and he regained control of his body. He quickly scrambled back on his bed and opened his eyes, only to find the man gone. Was that just a hallucination?

His body suddenly felt extremely tired. The mental and physical exhaustion his little four-year-old frame had dropped onto him like a sack of potatoes. He didn't even get the chance to get changed for bed when his head hit the bed and his reality was replaced by dreams.

Dreams were a fickle thing. Naruto would wake up, and think this whole encounter was a dream, that is until days later where he would be proven wrong. But that's in the future. Now, as he slept, he didn't dream of being a ninja and gaining respect.

This time, Naruto Uzumaki dreamt of fire and steel.

* * *

Shirou Emiya quite liked his container. It was hard not to, truthfully. The boy was a bouncing ball of sunshine, asking him endless questions, playing mischievous pranks, and being generally happy-go-lucky. In fact, he reminded him of Illya, the sister he never got to spend enough time with.

With that thought in mind, Shirou had forged a promise to treat his warden like a brother, and his jailer was ecstatic that he would be getting an 'older brother'.

That was, of course, after the young blonde had finished panicking and almost having a mental breakdown over the fact that he contained the monster that had ravaged the village on the day he was born. It had taken him a couple of hours of explaining to calm down the boy, but the boy seemed to accept it.

Not everything was sunshine and roses for the young one, however. He had seen the caution in the child's eyes when he was speaking. Caution that should not be in any child's eyes. There were also the questions. Questions of doubt and for reassurance. After he had managed to gain access to the boy's senses, he had seen why.

The stares of the villagers was something that he was accustomed to. Eyes that were full of blame and fear, and stabbed guilt and loneliness into his heart. He had seen them in destroyed village after destroyed village. In survivors of places he had failed to save. They were eyes that should never be directed at a small child.

He knew why they stared at him like that. He had all the information he needed given to him when he was summoned him here. He knew of the 'chakra system', of this world's history, and of the people. Who or whatever he had replaced in the seal, was either very knowledgeable or very old, or perhaps even both.

When he had seen the hate and scorn directed at his charge, he knew the reasoning of his summons.

Shirou Emiya would save Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

Iruka Umino was proud of his most recent class. They had started as brats, knowing nothing about the ninja arts. After years of grueling hard work and study, now they were ninja brats. He had started with 20 in the class, and now only 9 were left. Yes, they weren't true shinobi yet, that would be up their new team leaders, but he doubted the other teachers had students that could hold a candle to his.

He looked down at the list in his hand, and scanned down the names. As he reached the last one, he sighed.

Naruto Uzumaki was something of a special case. Mainly due to the fact that he contained the Kyuubi. He was also an enigma. He was a bit brash and exceedingly cheerful, but was respectful to those who earned his respect. He did have a mischievous streak; evident of that fact was when Naruto played pranks on the various teachers in the academy. No one ever caught him, but he knew it was him by the amount of orange used in the pranks. The mischievous streak aside, he was still a polite and optimistic boy, at least to him. Perhaps if more people treated him to ramen, they would get more respect from him.

He had thought that a boy who was shunned by most everyone would become quite loud and obnoxious, or at least dark and broody like the Uchiha.

The Uzumaki also had average grades. Normally, this wouldn't really be outstanding, but Iruka knew for sure that the kid could have passed with flying colors. He had seen explaining to his seat mate, the 2nd ranked in the class, a concept hadn't taught them yet. Whenever he had called on him to answer a question, he had answered perfectly every time. And yet every time tests were taken, he always managed to land in the middle. When he was treating the boy to ramen, he had asked him, out of the blue, random questions that were on the test, and some from the next test. Naruto answered all of them correctly. Luckily, the boy seemed to accept his reasoning of wanting to make sure he studied.

He was broken out of his thoughts when the door to the examination room opened.

In walked in the object of his thoughts, Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was worried for her friend. She knew he was a much more talented than her, but she couldn't help it.

As she sat at her desk, wringing her hands in anxiety, she thought back to the first time she met him.

Hinata remembered that it was the first day of school. He simply walked into the classroom, sauntered up the steps, plopped down on the chair next to her, and greeted her politely. He had tried to make small talk every once in awhile and she would answer with a stutter. He had paid her nervousness no mind and continued to talk to her about senseless things.

She distinctly remembered being very confused. Her father and cousin had told her that everyone would avoid her.

In her confusion she had asked her seat mate why he continued to sit by her.

"Aren't you afraid of me, or at least my weird eyes?" she asked.

He merely smiled at her and said, "I think you're a great person, and your eyes aren't weird. They're beautiful."

His honesty caused her complexion to adopt the color of a tomato and Hinata couldn't bring herself to look at him for the whole day.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a realization. She knew her friend wasn't as well of as she was. She had seen his house when she was stalki– observing her friend. It was a shoddy apartment building, in the worst part of the village, clearly in need of several repairs. When she had stalk–observed, she meant observed, him at other times, he was always alone.

Perhaps he hadn't gotten enough food this morning, or not enough sleep, or–

The exam door then opened with a quiet _clack_.

Out walked a very dejected and headband-less Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

Mizuki smirked as he left the demon brat. He had told him of the 'special test' for graduating. The kid had fallen for it immediately. The kid would go to the Hokage Tower, steal the Forbidden Scroll, and bring it back to him near the northeast edge of the village. There, he would take the scroll, kill the brat, and travel scot-free towards the Land of Sound, where he knew they were recruiting missing-nin.

If the kid got caught trying to steal the Scroll, well, he at least got rid of the demon brat.

It was win-win situation for him.

* * *

" _Oh god, oh god. I knew this was a trap!,"_ Naruto thought to himself. Even Shirou had told him to be extra careful, but the temptation of becoming what he had always aspired to be was too much. The scroll was still in his hands, thankfully, and away from that traitor.

He had acted as best as he could when Mizuki 'revealed' that he was the fox container, and fortunately the fool believed him. Then Iruka had arrived, saving him from a windmill shuriken when he had been focusing on the act. He then ran with the scroll, hoping to draw Mizuki's attention away from his teacher.

It had worked and now he was running for his life.

Naruto could probably win against Mizuki, especially with the help of Shirou's magecraft.

As he hopped through the trees, he saw a clearing in the distance. In the clearing was Iruka and Mizuki. His teacher was propped up against a tree, gravely wounded, but still defiant. Mizuki looked ready to finish off the injured chuunin. They were talking, Iruka stalling for time.

He didn't know what they were talking about, but, frankly, he didn't care. He applied a bit of Reinforcement to his legs, giving him a boost in speed. Out of the treeline he flew, aiming a foot at the back of Mizuki's head. A hit he knew would be dodged, but that wasn't his goal.

As he flew past Mizuki, he formed a cross seal and landed, while five clones poofed into existence. "Naruto… you've learned the Kage Bunshin?," asked a weakened Iruka.

"Yeah," answered Naruto, "but we can celebrate later, okay? I've got some to take care of something."

He handed off the Forbidden Scroll to one of his clones, and had the rest carry Iruka away from the clearing.

"Ha! You think you can beat me with a few clones?"

He turned at the sound the traitor's voice. Mizuki stood there, a smirk on his face and a hand on his hip, the other hand holding a kunai. He didn't deign to reply. There were no words in battle, unless of course, it was someone who could be dealt with diplomatically. Unfortunately for Mizuki, traitors did not have the option of diplomacy. He narrowed his eyes and searched his mind for options.

Suddenly, Shirou thrusted a specific pair of swords at him, their blueprints appearing in his mind.

He settled into a stance, hands at the side, his eyes flashing gold as he did so.

"Oh? You're not gonna use clones? Well, then goodbye, demon brat!" Mizuki taunted, charging at him.

Inwardly, Naruto grinned. He was finally able to say two words he had always wanted to say in battle.

"Trace On."


	2. Chapter 2

I forgot the disclaimer thing last time, so bam.

Disclaimer: I own nothing because I'm poor.

-Ω-

The Shiki Fujin was a truly intimidating technique. It allowed for the caster to manifest the essence of the Shinigami, giving them a guarantee of taking down their enemy with them, at the cost of their own soul. The Shinigami then attends to its task, taking the soul of the caster and the target, consuming them and forever barring the souls of peace. When the Shiki Fujin is used for sealing, however, the results are not the same. It is still quite powerful, able to seal even the mightiest of bijuu.

When a certain Hokage used it seal the Nine-Tailed Fox into a certain baby, the Shinigami could not consume the soul of the Kyuubi. After all, how can you eat something that is a necessary ingredient for your sealing to function? The Shinigami, however, did not like missing out on meals, so the God of Death did the next best thing. The soul of the Kyuubi, when it was sealed into the blond boy, was bonded to the soul of one Uzumaki Naruto. This way, when the body of the baby would reach its end, the Shinigami would be able to reap two souls for the price of one. Of course, the Shinigami was not aware of the Ashura and Indra situation, but that's an entirely different story.

The boy would grow up, the proof of his soul bond on his cheeks, marking him as a jinchuuriki, as a human sacrifice, as the keeper of Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox.

All that changed when a dimension-traveling Dead Apostle Ancestor decided to meddle in certain affairs. As every magus knows, all logic gets thrown out the window when Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is involved.

* * *

Naruto braced himself for the worst. He had faced many terrible things, like an angry Shirou, a chuunin trying to kill him, almost killing himself when he was activating his jinchuuriki powers, and angry mobs gunning for his formerly defenseless self. Yes, he had faced many hardships, and yet he was still alive and kicking. Unfortunately, he was now facing a possibly angry Hokage. Correction, he was most definitely angry.

He stood outside the doors of the Hokage office, and wondered whether he would survive this ordeal. Probably not. The most he could hope for was that the old man was a loud, angry person. Quiet angry people were much scarier. The calm, seething anger that Shirou displayed was horrifying, and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. There was something about the way they looked at you, as if they were calculating the best possible way to tear you apart in the most agonizing way possible, only to put you back together in the most painful way achievable. And then repeating the process. Several times. Of course, he did insult the art of cooking at the time, so he probably deserved it.

"Enter," a voice called, just as the door opened inwards.

Uh oh. That was not a voice that was full of rage, waiting to explode in yells and shouts. That was a calm, cool, and collected voice that didn't even have a hint of anger. Naruto walked forward, head bowed in shame. He kept his eyes on the chair in front of the desk, not daring to raise his gaze.

He stopped to the right of the chair.

"Sit," the voice ordered.

He sat.

"Raise your head, Uzumaki Naruto," the voice commanded once more.

Naruto obeyed, albeit reluctantly.

He looked up, expecting a solemn, but angry Hokage. He had, after all, broke into the Hokage Tower, and stolen the Forbidden Scroll. Granted, it was under the direct orders of a traitorous chuunin, but it was still just as bad as the crimes of treachery that Mizuki committed. Instead of finding an angry village leader, he found himself looking up to a smiling Hokage.

"Well done, Naruto."

"Wha–?" questioned Naruto.

The Hokage chuckled. "Surprised? You passed the test, didn't you?"

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, still trying to find out if the Hokage was tricking him.

"Well then," the Hokage then reached a hand under his desk, "as Hokage, I hereby declare Uzumaki Naruto, having passed the Secret Genin Graduation Test, as a Genin." He took his hidden hand out from under the desk and put a traditional Konoha headband right in front of Naruto. "Congratulations."

Naruto stared at the the headband. His headband. "Are you serious?" he hesitantly asked.

"Very much so," the Hokage replied.

Naruto reached out a hand towards the desk, slowly, as if he was waiting for someone to pop up and say it was all a joke. As soon as his hand hovered over the headband, he snatched it up and eagerly put it on.

* * *

Hiruzen's smile grew ever so slightly as Naruto fawned over his headband. It had seemed it was only yesterday that a small blonde boy had barged into the office, wanting the Hokage to take him out for ramen. He had disturbed so many boring meetings, something he was quite grateful for. The sunny disposition of Naruto was a light in his old age. Somewhere along the line, though, Naruto had started to change.

One of the changes he observed was during one of his scheduled checks on him. He was picking up Naruto to take him out to lunch when he was stopped.

"Jiji?" asked a young Naruto.

"What is it, Naruto?" he turned to the boy, who was standing in the doorway of his apartment. He was probably going to ask him when he was handing over the hat. Naruto had gotten the notion of becoming Hokage into his little head years ago, and it had seemed he was still set on that path. He had done nothing to discourage it, as it ensured that at least Naruto knew what career he wanted.

"Do you mind if we don't go out today?" Naruto said, looking up at him shyly.

His eyebrows rose. Internally, his mind was racing. Naruto not wanting ramen? This could only be the work of a genjutsu. He coughed into his hand, hiding the whispers of his attempts at dispelling it. Nothing happened.

"Are you alright? You are pretty old, after all," questioned a worried Naruto.

"I'm fine," the old man assured, "but where would you like to eat, then?"

"I've been learning how to cook recently," the boy admitted, "and I think I'm able make a decent meal now."

"Well, alright then," Hiruzen said. "What will we be having?" He was still cautious about the possible genjutsu, but perhaps this was all genuine. Children were always ready to try out new things after all.

"I'll be making ramen!" replied Naruto, as he dashed to his kitchen.

Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief. Of course it was ramen. And that meant that this was no genjutsu. He followed after Naruto, stepping into kitchen, and sat down at the table. Silently, he watched the blond boy bustle about the kitchen, moving with a purpose. It looked as if Naruto actually knew what he was doing, and he didn't need to worry about any accidents. Hiruzen broke his watch on him to glance about the room. It was surprisingly clean. The table he was sitting in front was already set for dinner. Naruto had prepared well, it seemed.

A loud thud brought him out of his observance.

"Here ya go, jiji!" Naruto exclaimed. A bowl of ramen was placed in front of him, while another was already seated in front of Naruto's chair.

The ramen was surprisingly good. It wasn't up to the level that was served at Ichiraku's, but for a ten-year old's attempt, it surpassed expectations. It made him wonder where Naruto had learned to cook. "So," Hiruzen said, "where exactly did you learn how to cook, Naruto?"

"Um," Naruto paused briefly, looking to the side and scratching the back of his head, "I'm mostly self taught."

Hiruzen leaned back, a small smile etched onto his lips. "My compliments towards the chef, then." Inwardly, he sighed. Naruto was lying to him, that much was clear. The act of lying itself wasn't suspicious. Children lied all the time. The motive for lying was the cause for his suspicions. Who was teaching Naruto, and why did he have to hide it?

He left Naruto to himself after the meal, claiming that he had some business to attend to. As soon as he was at his office, he assigned the ANBU guarding Naruto to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. His concern only grew as he continued to visit Naruto. The boy had only improved at cooking, too much for someone "self-taught".

The Forbidden Scroll situation had cemented his doubts. Hiruzen needed to know what was going on.

* * *

 **I realized that I'm honestly not well-versed enough in Nasuverse lore to actually write a believable story. This was always meant to be a one-shot, but I wanted to see how far I could go. Not that far, it seems. I know an incomplete chapter won't satisfy anyone, but here you go. Thanks for reading.**


End file.
